Lisa Kessler - Moonlight

The metal was cold on my skin, and I felt a flutter of movement again.

Jason grinned. “Did you feel that? They don’t like the cold.”

I smiled and nodded. “I felt it.”

“Do you want to hear them?” he asked.

I nodded, and he carefully put the earpieces in my ears. I could hear the whooshing of not one, but two small hearts. My eyes welled up with tears as I looked over at Adam. He froze, staring at me. I held up my hand and gestured for him to come over. When he did, I started to take off the stethoscope, but he shook his head, placing his hand, fingers splayed, over my abdomen.

“I hear them,” he whispered.

In that one single moment, I had a family. My family.

I pulled Adam to me and kissed him with every bit of love that was in my heart. I knew the future was uncertain. I was a medical anomaly, but I didn’t care. I felt safe and loved and a part of something larger than myself. Whatever the future brought, Adam and I would face it together. Two parts of one stronger whole.

We both drew back from the kiss, and Adam rested his forehead against mine. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Aren launched a pillow at us. “Get a room you two.”

Adam got up and retaliated, knocking his twin in the head with the soft projectile while Jason tucked his stethoscope back into the bag and shook his head. “Ignore them. They’ve always been like this.”

I grinned. “I hope they never change.”

Bruce loped around the arena while I worked the reins to get him to drop his neck. The wind blew past my ears, biting my skin with the fall chill in the air. Billows of fog floated by, giving the illusion that we were flying, racing through the clouds. The past three months had been quiet. Although we’d been patrolling the city nightly, there was still no sign of any jaguars lurking. Since taking out Cyrus and sending the surviving members of his team running, Nero had to be regrouping. It was obvious the Pack wasn’t going to relinquish Lana to them, and now that we knew they existed, we’d keep watch.

If they showed up in Reno again, we’d be ready for them.

I was glad for the respite. Alpha senses I never had before kept flooding me when I least expected the interruption. I wish I knew how Malcolm made it all look so simple and seamless. When I suddenly knew one of my Pack needed me, I felt like I’d just seen the Bat-Signal. I wanted to jump in my Batsuit, fire up the Batmobile, and race off to the rescue, but I was still learning my new role. The Alpha wasn’t supposed to fight every battle. I needed to make my interference in Pack affairs as minimal as possible. But sometimes that was easier said than done.

My brother, for example, was never easy. I knew he was hiding something, but regardless of how often we talked, he never offered me a clue that anything was wrong. But I could feel it. I knew. Yet there was nothing I could do until he decided to share.

My best guess was that it was something to do with his concern over his ankle healing to full strength or something like that. It’d make sense for him to have those kinds of fears. While he was finally off the crutches, he still favored his good leg, and Jason still wasn’t sure if he’d ever get back his full mobility again. The Pack needed him for patrols anyway, but I couldn’t let him go out alone anymore. His bruised ego came across in a short temper and overall bad attitude, but I didn’t know what else I could do. Being the Alpha, he had to obey my order, but he didn’t have to like it.

I understood my father more and more every day.

And then there was Lana.

I stopped Bruce as we came around to the chair underneath the tree. Lana’s fingers slowed and finally rested on the laptop keyboard as she looked up at me. “I thought you were training the horses.”

I put my hand on the saddle horn and grinned down at my wife. She’d married me just over a month ago, making me the luckiest bastard in the world. “I am, but my wife keeps distracting me.”

She laughed and closed her laptop, exposing her enormous round belly. My heart swelled in my chest. Our babies were due any day, and I was eager and terrified all at once. Jason seemed confident he could deliver the babies without a problem, but Jason always seemed confident. I was pretty sure doctors had to pass a class in confidence.

“Your wife is the size of a house at the moment.” She rubbed her belly with both hands. “Ripe and ready to burst.”

I jumped off of Bruce and lifted the reins over his head. Leading him over to Lana, I took her hand and helped her up from the chair. As soon as she was vertical her face went white. Her grip on my hand squeezed until I felt my knuckles popping.

“Luke,” I screamed. “I need you. Now !”

He poked his head around the corner. “Yeah?”

“Come get Bruce. Lana’s in labor.” Luke snatched the reins from me quickly. “Call Jason.”

Luke nodded, and took the horse back to the barn while I scooped Lana up into my arms. She winced, her brow already beading with sweat.

“Jason’s on his way. It’ll be okay.”

She nodded, blowing out her breath the way we’d been practicing. It hurt me to see the pain etched in the lines of her face. Guilt weighed on me, and I wished I could take the burden from her. But all I could do was lay her out on the bed and hold her hand. For the next half hour I kept watching the clock, timing her contractions. Jason had said it could take hours, but the contractions were already under five minutes apart. These babies were ready. I did my best not to panic.

She met my eyes. “I’ll be all right.”

“I know you will. Those babies are lucky they have such an amazing mom.” The corner of my mouth curved up, and I wiped her brow with a cool washcloth. “ I’m supposed to be reassuring you , remember?”

She shrugged. “I don’t like to see you worried.” Her hand reached out to caress my face. “I like to see you smile.”

I kissed her palm. “You have that effect on me.”

Another contraction hit, and her hand slapped the mattress. “Oh God, it’s getting worse.” She tried to breathe, but a sob escaped her throat instead.

Where the hell was Jason ?

During the next half hour her contractions came more rapidly, and I called Jason’s cell again. Right to voicemail. Shit .

I knelt at her side again, holding her hand and wiping her brow. “You’re doing great,” I encouraged her. As the contraction faded, she took a deep breath and opened her eyes again.

“They’re coming. I can feel it.”

I could hear the panic in her voice. “Jason’s on his way.” Or he damned well better be .

She shook her head. “He won’t make it, Adam.” Her eyes locked with mine. “I need you to help me.”

My pulse skyrocketed, pounding in my ears as I shook my head. “He’ll be here…”

Her next contraction interrupted me with the force of a hurricane. Lana leaned forward from the pillows and pulled her knees up. The bed linens were turning crimson. I pushed the sheet up from her feet, just as the top of a tiny head crowned. All my panic vanished, and my adrenaline kicked into high gear.

“I can see the head, Lana. You’re almost there. Push.”

She closed her eyes, moaning as she strained. Her hands gripped the sheets, tugging until the contraction ended. A tiny wail interrupted Lana’s exhausted panting. Her eyes widened as I scooped up the baby in my hands. Tears ran down her face when I showed her our little howling son.

“He’s beautiful,” I whispered.

She nodded, reaching up to touch his cheek. “Let’s name him Malcolm.”

Tears obstructed my vision, but I nodded. “I’d like that.”